Weather, safety hazards stall investigation of Cheyenne fire

Dec. 09--CHEYENNE -- Investigators have not yet had a chance to begin looking into what caused the fire that destroyed a local construction firm's main building Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

The fire at C.H. Yarber Construction Co., located at 4120 W. Fifth St., was first reported at 10:33 p.m. Monday, and took more than five hours to get under control, with 35 fire personnel from four agencies working through the night to fight it.

The building is considered a total loss, but it's still unclear exactly how the fire got started -- as well as what relation it may have to a smaller fire reported at the company just six hours earlier in the day.

Though it's located within Cheyenne proper, C.H. Yarber was situated in what's known as a county pocket -- a piece of land that, for whatever reason, was never formally brought under city control. As such, initial responsibility for responding to the fire fell to Laramie County Fire District 1, though the formal investigation has since been handed over to Cheyenne Fire and Rescue.

Lt. Jeff Shaffer of Cheyenne Fire and Rescue has assumed the role of lead investigator into what caused the blaze, but he said Thursday that the investigation is effectively on hold due to the extreme cold this week, combined with structural damage to the C.H. Yarber building.

With temperatures still well below freezing Thursday, Shaffer said much of the building is frozen due to the water used to extinguish the fire. Additionally, Shaffer said the fire caused damage to some of the building's structural supports, and it hasn't been deemed safe for investigators to begin an on-site accounting for the fire.

"The building's unsafe right now, and we're trying to make arrangements so we can get access to it," Shaffer said. "We are going to attempt to evaluate this with insurance companies to start working toward making the building safe. Hopefully by early next week we'll have access so we can do those things, but that depends on a lot of other moving pieces at this point as well."

The cause of the fire is of particular interest to Darrick Mittlestadt, fire chief for Laramie County Fire District 1. That's because Mittlestadt was among those who responded to reports of a fire at C.H. Yarber earlier Monday, and he was convinced that earlier fire had been fully extinguished when he left the scene.

What gives Mittlestadt pause is knowing that a second, larger fire broke out only hours after the first one was deemed resolved.

"I'm concerned with it because I was there and I cleared that building," Mittlestadt said.

He said the first fire was reported around 4:30 p.m. Monday, and had already been extinguished by C.H. Yarber employees by the time Fire District 1 arrived on site.

"The first one was located where the wall meets the roof, on the east side of the large garage area, toward the front of the building," he said. "There was myself there doing the investigation, and a captain that was on duty who has about 35 years experience, helping to take care of the overhaul of the fire area. Both of us were scratching our heads on what could have caused it because of the location."

Mittlestadt added that there were no power lines close to that portion of the building, and the closest conduit was more than a foot away from the site where the first fire began. He did note that some employees had been doing industrial grinding not far away, which may have contributed to the first fire, though no conclusions can be made at this point.

"We inspected the circuit breakers, and before we were even there, the Yarber guys had called in a master electrician who works right next door," Mittlestadt said. "They were thinking it had something to do with electrical, since they do so much metal work, and I was comfortable with that electrician looking at some of the boxes, and he said everything was fine."

Mittlestadt said Fire District 1 spent about a half-hour Monday afternoon removing burnt insulation and pouring water over the first fire site, using a thermal imager to make sure everything was cold before leaving.

"We left there with the fire area cold, about 40 degrees," he said. "And I'm glad I spent some extra time looking at the electrical panels, because I was 100 percent comfortable leaving that building the way it was. But because of the circumstances -- we were there, then five hours later there's a very large fire ... I have some questions myself that hopefully city inspectors can take care of."

Shaffer said he's familiar with the earlier fire that District 1 addressed ahead of the big blaze Monday night, though he's still waiting to review District 1's formal reports. In the meantime, until investigators can begin an on-site review, he's not prepared to rule out any possibilities as to the cause.

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